Effect of using an exercise and nutrition secure email message on the implementation of health promotion in a large health care system

Background and Program: Secure email messaging is used to provide timely communication between healthcare providers and patients with medical information and education. There have been increasing rates of overweight and obesity among military healthcare patients. To address this issue, we utilized a secure email messaging system that is primarily used for medication refills. This commentary demonstrates the extent to which the message was viewed and how much the message was liked. Preliminary Results: Of the 16,020 individuals emailed, 7,011 participants (43.8%) opened the email, and 1,023 patients (14.6% of those who opened it) completed the survey. Satisfaction rate for the health promotion message was 77.2%. Participants reported an intent to eat more fruit and vegetables (49.6%), decrease portion sizes (38.8%), and increase physical activity (51.1%), while 33.6% reported having no intent to change. Conclusion: The majority were satisfied with the health promotion message. This email method enables a single provider to have increased contact with patients. It is unknown if this message reached higher risk or harder to reach participants, a patient subset that could benefit most from this type of communication. This study is unique in that to our knowledge it is the first one to use secure email messaging in the military healthcare system for health promotion

Patient Generated Health Data: Framework for Decision Making

Patient information is a major part of healthcare decision making. Although currently scattered due to multiple sources and diverse formats, decision making can be improved if the patient information is readily available in a unified manner. Mobile technologies can improve decision making by integrating patient information from multiple sources. This study explores how patient generated health data (PGHD) from multiple sources can lead to improved healthcare decision making. A semi-systematic review is conducted to analyze research articles for transparency, clarity, and complete reporting. We conceptualize the data generated by healthcare professional as primarily from EHR/EMR and the data generated by patient as primarily from mobile apps and wearables. Eight themes led to the development of Convergence Model for Patient Data (CMPD). A framework was developed to illustrate several scenarios, to identify quality and timeliness requirements in mobile healthcare environment, and to provide necessary decision support

Patient views on supplementing dietetic interventions and the potential of text messaging in primary care: a focus group study

Background: There is a critical need for effective weight management and long-term condition treatment. In New Zealand, Māori, Pacific, and people living in areas of high deprivation experience obesity, overweight and long-term conditions at a proportionately higher extent compared to the rest of the population. Dietetic counselling within primary care is one way to address these issues and improve health outcomes. Fostering adherence to lifestyle goals in a patient’s everyday environment is likely to assist in the treatment and management of obesity and the associated long term conditions. In order to develop adjunct interventions for between dietetic consultations, that suit those they are intended to serve, patient input should be sought to inform interventions. mHealth (mobile Health) text messaging interventions have the potential to supplement dietetic intervention. Before clinical initiation, the acceptability of the use of text messaging in this setting needs to be explored. To maximise the success of a text messaging intervention it is important to seek patient input to align the development with their wants and needs. Objective: Explore overweight and obese patients’ perceptions of what could enhance dietetic interventions in primary care, and how patients perceive text messaging as an adjunct to dietitian counselling to support them to achieving their health related goals. Design: The research was based at Te Awakairangi Health Network a primary healthcare organisation in Lower Hutt, Wellington. A qualitative approach was utilised for this study using focus groups for the collection of relevant perspectives and opinions. Following a review of the literature, an interview schedule was developed to guide focus group discussions to address the research objectives. Focus group participants were selected by purposive sampling. Overweight and obese adults who were Māori, Pacific, or living in an area of high deprivation, who had partaken in an appointment with a dietitian between January 2015 and August 2015, were eligible for inclusion in the study. The focus group audio recordings were transcribed and thematically analysed. Themes were organised into a framework relating to the research objectives. Results: Twenty-one participants took part in one of five focus groups. Thematic analysis indicated that participants seeing dietitians believed that an increase in social support from family, the dietitian, and from peers going through similar experiences would further help them to achieve their lifestyle related goals. Participants also described that being informed about their health and the use of informational tools given to them by the dietitian had been helpful in making lifestyle changes. Participant responses established that the idea of text messaging between the dietitian and patient in this setting was positively received. Participant preferences for this kind of intervention included a desire for a high level of personalisation of text messages to the individual, as well as for the content of messages to be motivational, informational, and goal related. The idea of being in more frequent contact with their dietitian generated positive responses from participants. Conclusion: This study elicited perspectives from patients in a dietetic primary care setting about what could improve the achievement of weight management goals in their daily environment. Participants perceived that adjunct interventions in this setting would be helpful to them if they included social support. Text messaging if personalised, as a way to support patients to achieving their goals is acceptable to this populatio

An exploration of the strengths and weaknesses of using text messaging as a tool for self-report data collection in psychological research

Short Message Service (SMS) has immense potential for self-report data collection because it makes use of mobile phones that people already own, and allows researchers to communicate with participants regardless of physical location. Though interest in the possibilities of SMS as a tool for psychological research is slowly growing, to date, there has been no structured investigation of how this potential may be applied in psychological research. The research within this thesis examined the feasibility of using SMS as a tool for self-report psychological research, focussing on its strengths and weaknesses as a research mode. Across fifteen studies, this was investigated using a mixture of literature review, meta-analysis, surveys, and interviews. Participant samples varied from the broad (general population, university students) to specific (the elderly, the deaf). Strengths of SMS as a tool for self-report psychological research included growing interest in research community; positive perceptions of SMS as a research tool amongst potential sample; prompt responses and high response rate; suitability for frequent repeated sampling; and usefulness as a reminder prompt to support other modes of data collection. Weaknesses included a disconnect between stated willingness to participate and actual participation; response incompleteness; unsuitability for infrequent sampling; and some problems with psychometric equivalence in relation to other research modes like online or paper surveys. This was the first structured evaluation of SMS as a tool for self-report data collection in psychological research. Conclusions are limited by somewhat arbitrary design choices (such as the psychological topic within surveys) made in the absence of guiding background literature. Future research can refine these choices and use the logic presented here to guide further investigation into how SMS performs with more varied samples, different psychological topics, and as part of different research designs. This research has shown that while SMS has great potential as a tool for psychological self-report research, it has a number of weaknesses. Identifying these strengths and weaknesses, and some design choices which may mitigate the weaknesses, will open up possibilities for a wide range of future psychological research

Promoción del envejecimiento activo y saludable a través de mensajería instantánea

El proceso de envejecimiento de las sociedades contemporáneas es imparable, afecta de manera importante a la sociedad española en general, y a la población andaluza en particular. En Andalucía, la tasa de población mayor de 65 años en Andalucía que actualmente supera el 16% de la población, supondrá el 29% de los habitantes en 2050. En este contexto, las Tecnologías de la Información y la Comunicación (TIC) son una herramienta esencial para mejorar la calidad de vida de las personas mayores. Esta investigación analiza la construcción de un modelo conceptual sobre Envejecimiento y TIC; la validación de mensajes de promoción de salud y el desarrollo de una plataforma web orientada al fomento del envejecimiento activo y saludable y, de forma específica, el diseño e implementación de uno de los servicios que ofrece esta plataforma web, que pretende la promoción del envejecimiento saludable a través de un sistema de mensajería instantánea.The ageing process in contemporary societies is unrelenting. This will considerably affect the Spanish and the Andalusian society alike. Actually, the population over 65 in Andalusia exceeds 16% of the total, but this will account for 29% in 2050. In this context, Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have become a valuable tool to help the promotion of active and healthy ageing and to ameliorate the quality of life of the elderly. Research on this contribution aims to identify the opportunities the ICTs offer to the elderly when it comes to favouring decision-making for the betterment of their physical, mental and social well-being. The research work describes the construction of a conceptual model on ageing and ICTs and the development of a web-based platform and, more specifically, focuses on one specific service, the one aiming at promoting healthy ageing by the use of an instant messaging system, including the validation of the health-promoting messages.Tesis Univ. Jaén. Departamento de Derecho Penal, Filosofía del Derecho, Filosofía Moral y Filosofía. Leída el 3 de marzo de 2021